Martha F. Davis (born 1957) is a professor of law at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. She authored the book ''Brutal Need'', a study of the welfare rights movement of 1960 to 1973.

Early life and education

Davis is a native of Kansas. She holds an A.B. in anthropology, ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

(1979), a B.A. and M.A. from Trinity College, Oxford, and a J.D. from

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

where she was a member of its

Law Review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pro ...

Career

After graduating law school she served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

to U.S. District Court Judge James Moody from 1983 to 1985. She then became an associate at the law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP and was a visiting staff attorney at MFY Legal Services. In 1993 she joined

NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund Legal Momentum, founded in 1970, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the nation's first and longest-serving legal advocacy group for women in the United States. Betty Friedan and Muriel Fox were its co-founders and Muriel Fox is an ongoing leader of the ...

as a staff attorney until being promoted to Vice President and Legal Director in 1996. Davis was counsel in six

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

cases including arguing

Nguyen v. INS ''Nguyen v. INS'', 533 U.S. 53 (2001), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the validity of laws relating to U.S. citizenship at birth for children born outside the United States, out of wedlock, to an American parent. ...

, 533 U.S. 53 (2001). Davis joined the faculty at

Northeastern University School of Law Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as an evening program to meet the needs of its local community, NUSL is nationally recognized for its cooperative legal ed ...

in 2002. She has written widely on human rights, federalism, and women's rights.

Publications

;Books *''Global Urban Justice: The Rise of Human Rights Cities'' (2016; co-edited with Barbara Oomen and Michele Grigolo) *''Human Rights Advocacy in the United States'' (2014; co-author with Risa Kaufman and Johanna Kalb) *''Bringing Human Rights Home'' (2008; co-edited with Cynthia Soohoo and Cathy Albisa) *''Brutal Need: Lawyers and the Welfare Rights Movement, 1960-1973'' (1993)

References

1957 births Living people American legal scholars Harvard College alumni American lawyers American legal writers University of Chicago Law School alumni Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Northeastern University faculty Kansas lawyers {{US-legal-academic-bio-stub